The Hardest Part
by sherlockian-whovian-potterhead
Summary: Rose Tyler hated that beach more than anything. With The Duplicate Doctor by her side, she didn't think things could get any worse... 'No. No, no, no... Something's wrong. We're not supposed to be here. We were never meant to stay in this universe, and now it's going to try everything to get us out.'
1. Chapter 1

**The Hardest Part **

Alone.

She was alone.

The beach was empty, and it was quiet. The ground beneath her feet was the same, and yet it was different. Already, she could feel a headache coming on, burning at her temples and aching at the back of her skull. She winced and held onto the back of her scalp, the pain suddenly almost unbearable.

Beside her, the duplicate doctor froze dead. Rose had to remind herself that he was her Doctor now, The Doctor. His blue suit wasn't what she was accustomed to seeing him wear, but she'd adjust. Or perhaps he'd get a new suit.

Or perhaps he'd hate being stuck with her. When she first met The Doctor, he'd hated being domestic. Surely this 'duplicate' would feel the same as her first Doctor had at the time. Maybe he was plotting way to escape as they stood there, alone on that horrible beach.

'No,' The Duplicate Doctor said. 'No, no, no, no, no! This is all wrong.'

'It's fine,' Rose said, feeling her heart sink low in her chest and plummet to the bottom. 'You can take the TARDIS and leave and travel on your own, if you want. I understand.'

The Duplicate Doctor looked at Rose for a moment, and then pulled her into a hug. She was crying, he realised immediately, and he wrapped his arms around her a little tighter, trying to hold her together.

'Rose Tyler,' The Duplicate Doctor said. 'I would love to spend the rest of my human life travelling the stars with you. And I mean it. That isn't my problem,' he told her, his eyes burning with sincerity.

'I understand if you don't...'

'But I do,' The Doctor replied. 'I promise.'

The two stared at one another for a moment.

'No,' The Doctor began, and he started to pace. 'There's a different problem. You see, we entered this universe through a fracture in time, yeah? A rip, a great big, rippling chasm!'

The Doctor became more enthusiastic as he went on.

'But, but, but! Now, look at us, what's wrong with us?' he pointed from himself to Rose, back to where Jackie and Pete were leaving, and then stared at her with intense concentration.

'I don't know!'

'Oh Rose Tyler, you are fantastic, of course you are - think about it! What could possibly be wrong? What did you think when you first arrived here all those years ago?'

'The er, the ground! It felt wrong, and I've got a headache - I always had a headache when I first got here,' Rose exclaimed.

'Exactly! So, let's imagine that this gap in time that we came through is an open wound - and it's bleeding and bleeding, and then suddenly, three foreign bodies enter the wound - and it closes! So now, we've got an infection!'

'An infection?'

'There's something in this universe that never should have been here,' The Doctor said. 'There's something new. Something wrong.'

He grabbed at his hair, and looked on in despair at the place where the TARDIS had disappeared.

'Oh Doctor, you've made a big mistake,' he muttered. 'Because now, this infection, if you like - how do you get rid of an infection?' he turned back to Rose.

'Er, antibiotics?' Rose said.

'Exactly! This universe, it'll start trying to heal itself one way or another.'

'By doing what - will it push us out?'

'No, no it can't do that... It'll...'

His eyes became very wide as he stared at Rose Tyler - the Bad Wolf. He blinked.

'Doctor, what is it?'

'It's going to kill us,' The Doctor said, breathing out unevenly. 'It's trying to fix a wound in the best way it can - by getting rid of the foreign objects... us.'

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A.N: What do you think, should this be a full fic or a one shot? :) Review, let me know :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N: I got five follows for one chapter? I guess that means you guys wanted another one, I hope it does.**

**Things will pick up a bit more in the next few that come along, I reckon. Enjoy! **

**Thanks for letting me know about Festering as well, I found that quite interesting and you brought up some good points :) **

**Thanks for the reviews as well, really enjoy reading them! :) **

Chapter 2 - Reunion

The Doctor looked down at the piece of TARDIS in his hands. He suddenly felt very alone, despite the fact that his pink and yellow human stood beside him. Rose watched as his shoulders slumped ever so slightly, like he was defeated. It broke her heart.

'Doctor...'

He looked at her, his eyes brooding and sad. Above them, the sun glowed a bright yellow, causing them both to squint as they looked at one another.

'Is... Are we safe? Is my mum safe?'

The Doctor looked back to where Jackie was climbing up into the Land Rover, accompanied by Pete. Pete glanced back at them both - he was frowning, as if he was confused by the whole situation.

'Your Mum's probably safe,' The Doctor said thoughtfully. 'She's had a son here... married off to Pete. She's filled a gap that was left when parallel Jackie died,' he looked at Rose with a thoughtful expression, and noticed how exhausted she looked.

Instantly, his whole composure softened. He was part human - he was somewhat tired too. He put an arm around Rose's shoulders and she leaned into him. The scent of the Dalek's ship was still present on his suit jacket.

'We'll be okay for tonight at least,' The Doctor told her. 'We're okay for now.'

Rose nodded. She thought to herself as they walked in silence, with one of her arms wrapped tightly around The Doctor.

She wasn't entirely sure when she'd started to think of him as The Doctor.

* * *

'Is she alright?' Pete asked from the driver's seat as The Doctor helped Rose up into the Land Rover's backseat. He climbed in next to her, watching as Rose's eyes slid closed and leaned up against the window.

'She's fine,' The Doctor agreed. 'She's been riding adrenaline for almost twenty four hours.'

Pete nodded, and glanced at Jackie, who was also asleep in the passenger seat. 'So's Jacks.'

The Doctor nodded.

'She said you're not actually The Doctor,' Pete commented as he turned the key in the ignition.

'I'm a metacrisis,' The Doctor replied. 'Part human, part Time Lord. When I die, I'm gone. I won't regenerate as The Doctor would. This way, I can... well, I can grow old. Stay with Rose.'

Pete smiled slightly. 'Good.'

They made it off of the beach and began coasting down one of the country roads of Norway. The Doctor looked out of the window - he could feel the faint beginnings of a headache too.

'She hasn't stopped over these past eighteen months,' Pete interrupted the silence. 'She's a fighter, you know.'

'I do,' The Doctor agreed.

'As soon as you left, she cried. Didn't eat, didn't sleep. Didn't do very much at all, really,' Pete admitted. The Doctor's eyes flickered up, suddenly understanding why Rose looked so... cold, at certain points during the Dalek's attempt to destroy the universe.

'What changed?'

'Nothing, really,' Pete said. 'She was closed up. Soon, she stopped crying and then she just went quiet. She didn't need to get a job... so she just stayed at home, in her room most of the time. I had to employ somebody to be like a carer to her, just to make sure she'd eat.'

'But she's healthy now,' he looked at her.

'She figured out there was something wrong at Torchwood,' Pete said. 'She's bright. Managed to create her own variation of psychic paper, from scraps she'd found in my office. Then, she demanded that she got a job working there. Torchwood became her life. Jacks had to go in and forcibly make her take a break sometimes.'

The Doctor looked at Rose again. She looked so calm, it was difficult to imagine her becoming such a machine.

'Of course, she was the one to come up with the idea of a Dimension Cannon. She had it all worked out - things even our top scientists hadn't thought up. Then, when we thought we had it all worked out, she was the first to volunteer to test it.'

The Doctor closed his eyes. 'Was it safe?'

'There was no way of knowing. Rose said she could remember thousands of parallel universes in her head when she came back - she was torn up, white and malnourished even though she'd been gone for seconds... We used some memory wipe pills and she was in hospital for a bit. When she was healthy again, we'd reconstructed the Dimension Cannon and it was all fine,' Pete nodded to himself.

'Look after her,' Pete said.

'I will. I always have.'

'No, Doctor, you haven't,' Pete said. 'You've done a damn good job trying. But she needs you now. She said, in the beginning, that you needed her - that was more important to her. Now, I think she needs you more than you realise.'

The Doctor ruffled his own hair absentmindedly. He picked the TARDIS coral from his pocket and threw it up into the air, catching it one handedly as he looked at it.

'We'll stay at a hotel tonight,' Pete said. 'Then, I'll organise a plane down here to pick us up in the morning.'

The Doctor nodded, making a sound of agreement. He turned to face the window, looking out at the setting sun.

He knew it would have been hard for her, settling into a new parallel - but he hadn't considered the extreme effect it would have on her. He knew that, when he'd sent her home after the Game Station, she'd done everything in her power to return to the other universe.

The Doctor smiled to himself, looking over at Rose's sleeping face. He knew that soon, they would be in incredible danger - but when weren't they? It felt as if they'd taken everything the universe could throw at them and perhaps more...

What was one more problem added to the never ending list? He thought with a slight smile, leaning back into the seat and allowing his eyes to close for a moment.

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A.N: Review, maybe?


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